Almost every conversation I’ve had with someone about the potential to remake or re-release an iconic 16/32-bit era RPG has usually wound up with the same unanimous conclusion – that the “HD-2D” style of titles like Octopath Traveller and Triangle Strategy seems like the best way to reinterpret these games for modern platforms without losing their original essence and without committing to something as clearly unsustainable as the Final Fantasy VII Remake project.
And while my dreams of a HD-2D Final Fantasy VI are still just that, Square Enix has seen fit to dip into another beloved RPG of old with the meatily-titled Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, which was revealed all the way back in 2021 but is finally gearing up to launch this November 14th. Truthfully, my experience of the Dragon Quest series kicked off with the eighth mainline game, and I’ve never dipped into the earlier titles, so getting my hands on roughly an hour of the remake recently not only gave me a good idea of the efforts being put into the new version but a little insight into one of the series’ most popular entries.
My first impression of this remake, dropped straight into a portion of the adventure where players are tasked to recover a stolen crown from a gang of bandits, was that it’s really putting the HD-2D thing to work. This remake looks stunning, combining sumptuous 3D environments and modern effects with the original pixelated sprites to breathe new life into old scenes without straying from the classic designs. The Kingdom of Romaria looks lush and idyllic with the new perspectives and almost tilt-shifted depth-of-field effect making it feel as though someone sculpted those earliest pixels into a gorgeous diorama, and the overworld comes across as far more vast and varied than I’d expected.
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I may be exposing my ignorance around the origins of the Dragon Quest series here, but something that surprised me while playing the HD-2D Remake was how often I’d think a feature or bit of content was a new addition in this version of the game only to look at videos of the NES version and realise it was all there in Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior III. Things like the Monster Arena where you can pit teams of monsters you’ve befriended against others’ in friendly bouts feel like new ideas added on after the fact but are actually innovations dating back to day one. And while you’d be forgiven (or, at least I would like to be) for thinking the fresh coat of paint is what’s making this remake feel quite expansive, the world itself is actually somewhat note-for-note in direct comparisons.
That faithfulness does seem to work both ways though, with plenty of areas where it feels like Square Enix could’ve taken just a little more creative license to smooth things over. Battles, for example, have a decent level of new presentational polish to them with big 3D backdrops and additional camera angles, but they still feel a bit dated and tedious – especially after you’ve run into your 12th random encounter just trying to walk across a room. There’s an option to speed up the pace of battles, but going even further to allow players to temporarily switch off encounters or skip low-level bouts would be even better.
Similarly, the game’s menus and things like equipment/inventory screens feel cumbersome and illogical in comparison to modern RPGs and seem like they could’ve been retooled further to better suit new players without taking much away from the “true” experience, though admittedly a lot of that is steeped in tradition that’s continued all the way up to DQ11. There are some other handy concessions though, like an auto-save feature and three different difficulty settings to choose from. There’s also, inexplicably, a choice between “Quality” and “Performance” visual modes which both seem perfectly fluid meaning the former looks much sharper than the latter without any obvious sacrifice – though it’ll obviously take deeper looks into the full game to make sense of the differences.
When it comes down to it, it’s great to see a lot of that early DNA that’s gone on to inform the excellent, more recent series titles, even if the baggage that comes with it might prove too much for some total newcomers. This definitely feels like a project geared towards longtime fans or those who’ve found a love for Dragon Quest in later games and want to look back to its roots, much more so than something that might draw complete newbies into the fold.
While an hour is obviously barely enough to scratch the surface of a game like this and all of its intricacies, as something of a vibe check it’s shown me that Square Enix’ command of the HD-2D style continues on in full force with a stellar-looking game that blends the best of both worlds to great result, while the desire to stick as closely as possible to the gameplay of the original is as noble as it is potentially off-putting for anyone unaccustomed to its quirks.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake launches for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC on November 14th, 2024. You can pre-order it for $79 from Amazon with free shipping.
